Chapter 44. Lightning-Struck Wood
It took one afternoon for a healthy elm to appear in Adrian Wesson's plantation.
Apparently, Remus Lupin had transplanted it from who knew where.
At the same time, Adrian's Growth Potion was finally complete.
After he added that segment of mutated elm branch, the potion entered an unstable state, like a flowing thundercloud.
When he decanted the potion into a bottle, he could even see, through the glass, several fine bolts of lightning wandering through the dark-violet liquid, making a faint crackling sound.
"Are you sure that's a potion?" Lupin studied the Growth Potion in Adrian's hand with interest, pointed at it, and said, "It looks like it's about to explode."
"You'd best pray it doesn't explode." Adrian shrugged, then calmly poured the draught into a bucket filled with water.
In an instant, a metallic, bloody tang spread out; an unusual ripple coursed over the bucket's surface, and a low thunder rolled from within.
At the same time, the newly transplanted elm seemed to sense something. A few twigs bent slightly, pointing straight at the bucket.
Obviously, it was craving the potion in the bucket.
"So… what exactly is this bucket of potion for?" Lupin folded his arms, narrowed his eyes at the bucket, and didn't quite follow.
"Simply put," Adrian watched the elm and said, "this kind of potion can turn ordinary plants into magical plants."
Lupin raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"You'll see soon enough." As Adrian explained, he sprinkled the potion evenly around the elm's roots.
However, the great commotion he'd expected didn't appear. On the contrary, everything suddenly went quiet.
The elm seemed to have been hit by the Full Body-Bind; it didn't move at all.
"Uh…" Lupin stared at the elm, frowning. "Maybe it failed?"
Adrian ignored him and silently thought, "Eldra."
[Type: Elm]
[Level: 1]
[Status: Growing (1%)]
1%, 2%, 3%…
When he saw the growth progress continually rise, Adrian finally let out a small breath. His potion was working.
At last, after they waited quietly for dozens of minutes, something happened.
But it wasn't the elm that moved.
It was the weather.
Just as the growth progress was about to reach one hundred per cent, the sky changed abruptly.
As though pulled by some invisible force, dark clouds rapidly gathered over this area, blanketing the entire plantation.
Lupin looked up at the sky, his brows tightening slightly. "That's not a natural phenomenon."
Adrian noticed the anomaly as well.
The clouds were pinned directly over the elm and showed no sign of dispersing.
All at once, a dazzling bolt of blue-white lightning dropped from the cloud-bank and struck the elm's trunk with perfect accuracy.
"Boom!"
At the instant the thunderbolt hit, a fierce light flooded the whole area, and a scorched smell spread.
Startled, Adrian and Lupin both hurriedly backed away.
When they came back to themselves, the elm had undergone a shocking change.
Its once-lush green leaves had been reduced to ash; the exposed trunk looked scorched, its bark covered in blackened cracks. Half the branches drooped, and now and then blue-white arcs of electricity wandered among them.
Simply put, it had been struck by lightning.
Adrian stared, a bit dumbfounded. His previous elm had died the same way.
He fixed his eyes on the charred elm before him, was silent for a few seconds, then let out a deep sigh.
"Bloody hell…"
Adrian pinched the bridge of his nose, utterly helpless.
He hadn't expected this elm to be killed by lightning before the alteration was even complete.
But very soon, Adrian realised he was wrong.
Although the elm's exterior looked as if it had been completely burned, it was still alive.
[Type: Lightning-Struck Wood]
[Level: 2]
[Traits: Storm Summoning, Lightning-Attraction]
[Status: Growing (0%)]
…
The elm had actually completed its evolution.
What's more, besides Storm Summoning, the elm before him had gained an extra trait: Lightning-Attraction.
That was outside Adrian's expectations.
After the first bolt, the dark clouds did not drift away; instead, they piled ever thicker, rolling and roaring across the sky, with flashes of lightning threading through them from time to time.
Another bolt came down then, striking the elm—now Lightning-Struck Wood—once again.
Unlike the first strike, this time the elm took no damage. On the contrary, it was as if a new vitality had been poured into it.
A faint blue radiance began to shine from the cracks in the bark, as though slowly repairing its injuries.
Adrian could feel that the elm's life-force seemed to be growing stronger.
This should be the ability of its "Lightning-Attraction" trait.
The thunderstorm continued.
Lupin's robes snapped and rattled in the wind. He paid no mind to the hat already blown away and shouted towards Adrian, "What's happening? Adrian! Is this normal?"
"Relax, Lupin, it'll be over soon!" Adrian shouted back, but his voice was drowned out by the thunder.
Before the words had even fallen, the clouds in the sky twisted a few times, and then a silver-white figure burst out from between them, accompanied by a peal of blasting thunder.
A Thunderbird!
Adrian instinctively glanced towards the suitcase not far away that held the Thunderbird. Sure enough, at some point the suitcase had been opened, and the little Thunderbird had come out.
It was still in its juvenile form, but clearly it had already adapted to storms and lightning.
It capered between the clouds; bolts of lightning flickered by its side one after another, the whooshing winds and thunderclaps weaving together, as though the whole sky had been lit.
"Trouble." Adrian frowned without thinking and muttered under his breath.
He hadn't had time to build any bond with the little Thunderbird!
Now that it had flown off, who knew whether it would come back?
Adrian hurried to the Lightning-Struck Wood, patted its trunk, and ordered, "Stop."
Plants influenced by Adrian's magic could understand his commands to some extent.
Sure enough, once he gave the order, the dark clouds slowly dispersed, and the raging thunder gradually subsided.
When calm returned, the little Thunderbird's need to frolic also passed. It hovered for a moment, hesitated in mid-air, then obediently flew back to Adrian's side and nuzzled his forearm.
"Looks like Roskin really did teach you well." Adrian smiled and reached out to smooth its feathers.
Just then, Lupin—who had been watching the whole time—finally came back to himself.
"Is that… a Thunderbird?" He stared at Adrian, mouth agape.
"Yeah," Adrian nodded, smiling. "See how well-behaved it is."
With Adrian's confirmation, Lupin could only give a helpless little laugh.
There was definitely something off about this plantation.
First a dragon, and now a Thunderbird.
Who knew what Adrian would bring back next?
Perhaps a whole colony of Acromantulas?
And this Thunderbird would, in all likelihood, end up being fed by him as well.
After all, that dragon called "Torch" had always been in his care; Adrian didn't bother with it at all.
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